Lone Star Capital Bank, N.A. was formed in 2003 by the merger of two local banks. Owned by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, the full-service national bank has four locations in San Antonio, Texas, 45 employees, and about $120 million in total assets.

In 2005, the bank had a Cisco PIX Firewall along with its Cisco routers. Around that time, following an annual review by a federal examiner, it was recommended that the bank bolster its security with the addition of intrusion detection and intrusion prevention on the firewall. After careful consideration, the bank looked at solutions from other vendors, including eSoft, Unicom Tech, Inc., DataComm, and Insight. Lone Star Capital Bank closely compared all of the products, placing priority on ease-of-use, cost for performance, and regular and automatic product updates when new threats became known. Lone Star determined eSoft was the best choice and acquired one of the company's award-winning InstaGate integrated security gateways to protect all four of its bank branches.

Ease of Mind

InstaGate security gateways are scalable unified threat management (UTM) solutions that combine a variety of services into a high performance Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) Firewall and IPSec VPN architecture. The InstaGate protects Lone Star Capital Bank from dynamic, content-based threats that elude traditional firewalls, including its previous Cisco solution. Lone Star Capital Bank has deployed Intrusion Protection Service (IPS) as well as Anti-Spyware on its InstaGate.

eSoft’s IPS will automatically detect and block malicious network intrusions, worms and Trojans that occur at the network and application layers. Policy controls also allow Lone Star administrators to block Instant Messaging (IM) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications. Attacks are blocked in real-time and each attack is automatically logged for reporting or forensic analysis purposes. Finally, signature updates are automatically downloaded to ensure protection from the latest threats, which was a key benefit Lone Star recognized during its product search.

eSoft’s Gateway Anti-Spyware detects and prevents Adware, Spyware, Trojans, and Keyloggers from infecting the network, whether delivered by web, email or other delivery mechanisms. Infected computers on the bank’s internal network are also detected and blocked from sending private data to Internet collection sites. Proactive security at the gateway stops new Spyware infections, prevents confidential data from leaving the bank's network, and eliminates the tremendous resource drain associated with scanning and cleaning network computers.

“With the IPS on the eSoft InstaGate, we don’t experience intrusions, which is crucial in the banking industry,” said John Theiss, IT/Compliance Officer for Lone Star Capital Bank. “I’m glad we were able to implement what the federal examiner recommended so easily with eSoft. The anti-spyware service, which we just recently implemented, has shown us significant proof of its abilities. We’re able to block traffic that typically let viruses in through spyware-instant messaging, visits to sites that have adware, etc. Even the first day we installed it, we heard from end users saying they couldn't go to certain web sites, which meant it was working.”

In addition, eSoft’s patented SoftPak Director security services infrastructure ensures the bank's InstaGate is always providing maximum protection with the most up-to-date threat databases available.

Easy to Use and Add Services

The InstaGate, which has received industry accolades including a five-star rating by SC Magazine, is appreciated for its ease of use, performance, and value for money by Lone Star Capital Bank. “The InstaGate is pretty much plug and play,” Theiss said. “eSofts IPS/IDS was developed in-house and the default settings they chose are great. We have had no reason to even change the defaults.”

Through eSoft’s modular SoftPaks, Lone Star Capital Bank can scale its InstaGate to add such services as Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam and Web Content Filtering as new needs arise. On the InstaGate itself, an intuitive GUI-driven menu guides an administrator through a recap of SoftPaks already installed and also displays additional SoftPaks that area available for download and purchase. eSoft provides a trial evaluation, during which Lone
Star Capital can use any of the services before deciding whether to purchase. This automatically happens through the gateway-Lone Star need not call or browse to place the order.

“We are inclined to try other SoftPaks, particularly spam and web site filtering,” said Theiss. “We haven't had a need for website filtering yet because we have an Internet usage policy that’s generally followed. But as we grow, if it becomes an issue, we’ll look at web site filtering.”

Stress- and Hassle-Free

Lone Star Capital Bank was able to easily comply with the recommended changes suggested during its annual federal examination implementing the eSoft Internet security solution. Due to the ease of use and the flexibility to add services, the bank is well prepared for the future. Theiss is personally happy that he can relax knowing intrusions and spyware are blocked.

“I’ve seen products right out of the box that were really terrible, difficult to understand, and offered a flimsy or difficult interface,” said Theiss. “The InstaGate is straightforward, user-friendly, dependable, and self-updating. There’s not much more we could ask for.”